Monday, June 27, 2011

Plugging Along

Maybe this has happened to you:

You're writing a story. You've just started and it seems like the floodgates are just opening wide in your brain - the words are flowing, the inspiration is kicking, the characters are behaving. And then suddenly, without warning...

EERRRRRTTT!!

All of it just comes to a screeching halt. The characters start acting weird. The dialogue starts feeling clipped. The settings don't seem as charming. And that inspiration that was flowing like the proverbial "milk and honey"?

It's like Winnie the Pooh's evil twin came along and ate it all up.

Leaving you with nothing except a half-baked, half-finished story.

So what do you do? Close the file and move on to the next story? Hope it doesn't happen again?

If you're on a deadline, you know the answer to this: You keep plugging along. You go back to where you lost the inspiration, delete the parts that seemed to go downhill and you start over from there. If you're on a deadline, you don't have the luxury of quitting.

I finished two novels before Miss Match was signed. And while neither of those novels will EVER see the light of day, they were invaluable to me! They taught me that I can finish a novel. I can get to the ending and I can write more words than I ever imagined I could.

Not a deadline? Pretend that you are. Pick a date about four to six months away and go for it. If you get stuck, stop where you are and retrace your steps until you recapture the "feeling" you were going for in your story. Your first finished novel might be like mine and never see a publication date, but YOU finished a NOVEL.

How many people can say that? And if you did it once, what's to stop you from doing it again? :)